Well, it has been a few days since I posted, but I have been busy. I have now seen Westminster Abbey (went to EvenSong mass), the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Churchhill's War Rooms, the Houses of Parliament, taken a bus tour of the city, watched a man feed squirrels in a park, visited the Tower of London, seen and been on the Tower Bridge, taken a boat ride on the Thames, seen a musical, and ate at a Pizza Hut that looked like a classy restaurant. And I have pictures, lots and lots of pictures.
There is so much to tell, but I think I will try to keep it short this time. On Tuesday I went and saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and I got to say, that was very boring. I don't recommend wasting your time. Then I walked back through a park to go to Winston Churchhill's Cabinet War Rooms. But on the way I got a bit side tracked by an old Englishman that was feeding squirrels. They were literally running up his pant leg to just above his knee and taking the food from his hand. Luckily I caught this on video and will be posting that online soon.
From there I went to the War Rooms were I got to see the tight living quarters of the underground bunker and learn a ton about Churchhill. After leaving there I ate lunch in the museum's cafe, it consisted of sausages and mashed potatoes with red onion marmalade in a thick gravy along with a side of tea. All in all very filling and enjoyable. Then I bought some souvenirs and off I went.
Next I attended Evensong at Westminster Abbey. Now I have to say this is by far the most beautiful church I have ever seen in my life. The detail put into it is immaculate. I also learned a bit about the abbey from an Englishwoman that I sat next to. She even showed me around a bit when mass was over. One thing I have to say about the mass was that I was not fond of the singing. Don't get me wrong, I usually love church choirs, but they weren't singing songs. They were saying words in a singsong voice. There was no pattern and hardly any rhythm. But otherwise it was wonderful. I will have to go back for the official tour.
After leaving the abbey I noticed that Parliament was still in session. So I went in the visitors entrance and after being scanned, searched, and patted down twice I was allowed to watch the House of Commons in session. They have a large protective shield between you and the members of that house and you are surrounded by guards at all times in there. While there I watched a rather interesting debate on whether or not to add a third runway to Heathrow. There was concern about displacing 4,000 people for the project when they already have a serious housing shortage here. Then several politicians pointed out that they could ease the strain from Heathrow by building several high speed lines to major destinations that it serves. It was an interesting and at times almost exciting debate. And so I was very disappointed when I visited the rather droll House of Lords. In this house there is no protective shield and it consists mostly of severely old men. Though I did get an interesting history lesson about the royals from one of the guards here.
Ok, well I have typed enough for today. I have posted a few images and will try to post the video in my online album before I leave the cafe today.
Cheers,
Patrick
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Pictures and such from London
Hello again, I first want to start off by saying that today went a lot better than yesterday, even though it was cold and rainy all day. I uploaded some of my photos from today and they can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/patrick.thurmond/London#
Anyways, today I purchased a British cell phone (called a mobile here). I went and saw Buckingham Palace, though they said that they only have the changing of the guard on the odd days. So I will have to go back tomorrow to do see it. I also ate at a high class French restaurant while wearing jeans and a t-shirt. That made me laugh because everyone else was in a suit and tie. It was expensive and I won't do that again on this vacation, but the food was really good (I had wild rabbit and crayfish pie). Then I inadvertently found the cigar shop where Sir Winston Churchill used to smoke it up. They have his leather chair there along with various other items, including his hat. And I bought a Cuban cigar and smoked it in his chair (this was allowed by them and encouraged). I had a picture taken of me sitting in this chair, smoking the Cuban, while wearing his hat (this I am not sure was ok, but a Texan I met there did it and he had a point, they wouldn't know). I smoked it up with a Texan and a German for about 30-45 minutes before the party broke up.
Then I took the tube to Westminster Abbey and took some pictures of it and Parliament and Big Ben. Then I also took some pictures of the Thames and the London Eye. Well I will be heading out now, it is a little past 8pm and I want to hit some of the nightlife.
Anyways, today I purchased a British cell phone (called a mobile here). I went and saw Buckingham Palace, though they said that they only have the changing of the guard on the odd days. So I will have to go back tomorrow to do see it. I also ate at a high class French restaurant while wearing jeans and a t-shirt. That made me laugh because everyone else was in a suit and tie. It was expensive and I won't do that again on this vacation, but the food was really good (I had wild rabbit and crayfish pie). Then I inadvertently found the cigar shop where Sir Winston Churchill used to smoke it up. They have his leather chair there along with various other items, including his hat. And I bought a Cuban cigar and smoked it in his chair (this was allowed by them and encouraged). I had a picture taken of me sitting in this chair, smoking the Cuban, while wearing his hat (this I am not sure was ok, but a Texan I met there did it and he had a point, they wouldn't know). I smoked it up with a Texan and a German for about 30-45 minutes before the party broke up.
Then I took the tube to Westminster Abbey and took some pictures of it and Parliament and Big Ben. Then I also took some pictures of the Thames and the London Eye. Well I will be heading out now, it is a little past 8pm and I want to hit some of the nightlife.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Sleepless in Sea... London.
Good morning all. I thought I would start this post with something from an email I sent earlier. Apparently I can use this small internet cafe for 1 pound an hour. So I think I will use this several times over the week as it is close to my B&B. Anyways on to todays events...
I am very tired right now as it is 9:45am London time, 3:45am Kansas City time, and I have been up since 7:45am KC time. I tried to check into my B&B this morning and they overbooked, so they won't have a room ready for me until 11am. I tried to eat their very limited breakfeast, but found myself left wanting. All they served was toast, tea, and hard boiled eggs. So I went around the corner and got a chicken sandwich, again I was not impressed. The chicken was breaded but the meat was almost paper thin. I think this European style of eating is going to force me to lose 20 pounds before the end of the trip. At this point I will just be happy when I get to lay down for a few hours.
Before I go on, I know that some of you will ask the age old question, "How was your flight?", and I would have to reply that it was pretty smooth. Though that trans-Atlantic flight was waaay too long and I am incapable of sleeping on a plane. When we passed over Ireland in the wee hours of the morning I got to see a neat light show from the ground. So that was cool.
Also in todays events, apparently today I the British version of Veterans Day and the Queen will be in Whitehall giving a speech at 11am... the same time I am supposed to check in... between that and a lack of sleep I think that I will be missing those festivities. I hear that it is supposed to be a bit like Times Square on New Years Eve, so a complete madhouse. But I will be going out tonight.
As for the city itself... the people here are very polite and helpful. I met a couple at the tube station in Heathrow airport and they spent time explaining to me how to get around via the tube and all its intricacies. Which reminds me of something else about the B&B. I got there a little past 7am this morning and the doors were closed and locked with no way in... frustrated after knocking loudly for a few minutes and repeatedly hitting the buzzer I decided to walk down to a small convenience store on the corner and get an international phone card. The storekeeper was also nice enough to dial from his cell phone (and he dialed for me since I am a bit new to international calling) instead of making me use the pay phone across the street. Now I know many of you are wondering why I did such a thing. Apparently here in London, if you use an international phone card at a pay phone it charges about 8 to 10 times the amount from a card than you would get charged for the same amount of time from a land line or cell phone. So he really helped me out.
And finally, before I go, I wanted to tell everyone a bit about what I have noticed about London so far. When people say everything is really close together here I don't think most of us register just how close they really are. Literally when I exited the tube at Earl's court, every which way I looked there was a business or storefront. There isn't more than a 6-inch gap between where one ends and one begins. In fact, so far the only street I have been on that doesn't have a business one every inch of the street is the one my B&B is on. And even that street has about 12 businesses on it. I have also already seen a double-decker bus roll by. Wait, just saw another one. And wouldn't you know it, an American-sized SUV on the streets of London.
Ok now I am just talking about what I am seeing out the window now. So I will end this post here.
-Patrick
I am very tired right now as it is 9:45am London time, 3:45am Kansas City time, and I have been up since 7:45am KC time. I tried to check into my B&B this morning and they overbooked, so they won't have a room ready for me until 11am. I tried to eat their very limited breakfeast, but found myself left wanting. All they served was toast, tea, and hard boiled eggs. So I went around the corner and got a chicken sandwich, again I was not impressed. The chicken was breaded but the meat was almost paper thin. I think this European style of eating is going to force me to lose 20 pounds before the end of the trip. At this point I will just be happy when I get to lay down for a few hours.
Before I go on, I know that some of you will ask the age old question, "How was your flight?", and I would have to reply that it was pretty smooth. Though that trans-Atlantic flight was waaay too long and I am incapable of sleeping on a plane. When we passed over Ireland in the wee hours of the morning I got to see a neat light show from the ground. So that was cool.
Also in todays events, apparently today I the British version of Veterans Day and the Queen will be in Whitehall giving a speech at 11am... the same time I am supposed to check in... between that and a lack of sleep I think that I will be missing those festivities. I hear that it is supposed to be a bit like Times Square on New Years Eve, so a complete madhouse. But I will be going out tonight.
As for the city itself... the people here are very polite and helpful. I met a couple at the tube station in Heathrow airport and they spent time explaining to me how to get around via the tube and all its intricacies. Which reminds me of something else about the B&B. I got there a little past 7am this morning and the doors were closed and locked with no way in... frustrated after knocking loudly for a few minutes and repeatedly hitting the buzzer I decided to walk down to a small convenience store on the corner and get an international phone card. The storekeeper was also nice enough to dial from his cell phone (and he dialed for me since I am a bit new to international calling) instead of making me use the pay phone across the street. Now I know many of you are wondering why I did such a thing. Apparently here in London, if you use an international phone card at a pay phone it charges about 8 to 10 times the amount from a card than you would get charged for the same amount of time from a land line or cell phone. So he really helped me out.
And finally, before I go, I wanted to tell everyone a bit about what I have noticed about London so far. When people say everything is really close together here I don't think most of us register just how close they really are. Literally when I exited the tube at Earl's court, every which way I looked there was a business or storefront. There isn't more than a 6-inch gap between where one ends and one begins. In fact, so far the only street I have been on that doesn't have a business one every inch of the street is the one my B&B is on. And even that street has about 12 businesses on it. I have also already seen a double-decker bus roll by. Wait, just saw another one. And wouldn't you know it, an American-sized SUV on the streets of London.
Ok now I am just talking about what I am seeing out the window now. So I will end this post here.
-Patrick
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Leaving for London
Ok, it is Saturday morning at 9:52 AM. My mother has just arrived to take me to the airport. I will try to update this blog when I get to London. Have a great weekend everybody!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Getting ready to go to London
Here I am on Friday night, getting ready to leave to go to London. I have almost everything packed. I have all my documents ready and cash for the journey. This will be an awesome vacation.
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